1) U.S. servicemembers may be terrified. Some may be trigger-happy. Some may not be brave. Nonetheless, do not generalize and attribute those traits to all U.S. servicemembers.

2) The U.S., as a nation, is not power-hungry. The motivations of the current administration are up for debate (to put it mildly!), but do not let the fact that they won the 2000 election trick you into believing that the American electorate has sinister intentions. An accurate description of the nation is probably a lot more complicated and a lot less exciting.

3) Nothing should be achieved at all costs. That mindset has led humanity down some very dark paths. Let’s not repeat it.

4) U.S. military doctrine places great emphasis on properly identifiying contacts, to the extent that charges can be (and are) brought against servicemembers who negligently shoot “civilians” during laser-fire field exercises. Thus, I am not yet convinced that the reporter’s death was the result of a poor training program.

5) Regarding the U.S. involvement in WWI, it was significant in bringing about the defeat of Germany by November 1918. The Alliance and the Entente were both drained of manpower by 1917. Thus, the arrival of American troops did give an edge to the Entente. As for supplies, the U.S. lent significant material support to the Entente throughout the war. Had that not occured, who knows which side would have lost?

6) It is reckless to say that the U.S. had no reason to invade Afghanistan. Al Qaeda operated from that country. Al Qaeda was responsible for carrying out the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban was, at best, incapable of policing them. At worst, the Taliban was complicit. Furthermore, to put things in perspective, the American entry into Afghanistan has been a lot less destructive than the prvious decades of conflict in that country. Engineers were clearing Soviet mines every day of my deployment to that country. Clearing continues today, over a year later. Mine-clearing operations are more extensive now than before the invasion, which is good, since Soviet mines still create the most war-related casualties in Afghanistan.

7) Do not use the United States’ past contributions (e.g. WWII) to justify current activities. The people who planned and fought WWII are not planning or operating in Iraq today and it takes only one generation (if that) to screw up.
Don’t discount the bravery of non-U.S. militaries. To do so is rude and ignorant. In particular, don’t mock the Canadian military. Sure, Canada does not have the industrial base necessary to win a full-scale war with the U.S., but who does?! Having served alongside the Canadian military, I know that it deserves Americans’ respect.

9) Please try to use proper grammar and spelling! Having said that, I offer my apologies for any errors in my posting.

Obviously, you’ve never served in combat, or have had an RPG go off near you. You have either never have been in the military, or is actually a desk procurement officer in charge of toilette paper, and supplies.

An RPG-7, with an anti-tank round has a maximum effective range of 500, or so meters, in straight flight. One with an anti-personnel grenade can reach out over 1100 meters, and all RPG self-destruct after a 4-5 second flight.

Lets see, you see an RPG grenadier, bring out your binoculars, identify the target, confirm its an RPG, order any NCO to fire upon the target. Do you think you can do that in 4-5 seconds, in a combat zone?

With your “combat expertise”, by the time you did identify with your “binoculars”, you’d have seen the unmistakeable flash of the RPG, and the grey smoke trail of an RPG rocket slamming into your position, and if its an anti-personnel rocket, 900 steel balls flying in every direction at over 2000 fps to a 15 meter radius.

In combat, there is no second guessing, that’s what gets you killed.
Give me a break….